Anyone who has participated in traffic since the introduction of the ‘intelligent lockdown’ has undoubtedly noticed that it is a lot quieter on the road. It is still unclear to what extent this will also be the case after the corona crisis. RAI Association commissioned research into the consequences of the coronamisère on mobility.
A study commissioned by the RAI Association, conducted by Maurice de Hond, shows that part of the Dutch population will work at home more often not only now, but also in the future. The RAI Association also concludes from the same study that there is a growing need for more individual transport, such as cars and bicycles.
The survey results show that 56 percent of respondents have been working from home since the corona crisis. Before the lockdown measures came into effect, that percentage was 6 percent. 38 percent of respondents indicate that nothing has changed for them. In addition, 26 percent of the respondents indicate that they will also work from home more often in the future. Because some of these respondents normally go to work by car, this will potentially have a positive effect on traffic jams, among other things. The study shows that if the group that indicates that they want to continue working at home more often does that two days a week in the future, there will be 10 percent less traffic on Dutch roads. The RAI Association concludes that this can at best result in savings of more than 0.4 megatonnes of CO2 per year (0.4 million tons).
Not only does the research foresee a shift to where we do our work, it can also change the way we get to work. For example, 20 percent of current public transport users indicate that they no longer wish to use public transport if the lockdown measures are further relaxed. 68 percent of this group prefer the car as a new form of transport, while 18 percent choose the bicycle as a replacement form of transport. 1 percent will choose the motorcycle in the near future. 28 percent of respondents say they do not yet know whether they will use public transport more or less. The largest group of public transport commuters (52 percent) indicate that they simply continue to use public transport to the same extent. Steven van Eijck, chairman of the RAI Association, thinks the shift to the car is undesirable. “We must prevent public transport passengers from getting into the car en masse and we will all remain stuck in traffic jams.”
Van Eick therefore calls for the promotion of opportunities to work from home and believes that public transport parties should be given the space to take as many commuters as possible from A to B safely and comfortably. In addition, Van Eick emphasizes the position of the RAI Association with regard to so-called ‘road pricing’. The interest group advocates a system that pays for use and not for ownership. According to the interest group, investments must also be made in the bottlenecks of the infrastructure and extra attention must be paid to people who travel by bicycle, scooter or motorcycle.